Czech lower house proposes late advocate of recognition of the Holocaust of the Roma for a state honor in memoriam
The Czech Chamber of Deputies has adopted a motion to award state honors to the late Romani activist Mr. Čeněk Růžička. His name was proposed in memoriam for the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, which is awarded for excellent contributions to the development of democracy, humanity, and human rights.
This year the motion was submitted by the speaker of the lower house, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, and the plenary session supported it with a clear majority. “I was glad to vote in favor of that,” lawmaker Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) told news server Romea.cz.
Mr. Růžička fought for many years for the dignified commemoration of the Romani victims of Nazi persecution. He was born in 1947 into a family of Roma who lived on Bohemian territory prior to the Second World War.
His father and extended family were persecuted by the Nazis – his mother survived the concentration camp in Lety, his father survived Auschwitz, but most of his relatives were murdered during the war. The family led a traditional life on the road involving horse breeding and trading that was brought to an end by the state ban on itineracy in 1958.
Mr. Růžička apprenticed as a stonemason and worked for many years in that craft before going into the antiques business later in life. A watershed moment in his life happened in 1997, when he learned that his family members had died in the Lety u Písku concentration camp.
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Learning his family history led Mr. Růžička to civic activism and public appearances. He established the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust and became the main face of the fight for dignified commemoration of the Romani victims of Nazism.
Mr. Růžička is credited with making the issue of the former concentration camp in Lety u Písku visible, holding annual commemorative ceremonies there which diplomats and public figures gradually started attending. He is distinctly responsible for the fact that the industrial pig farm which once covered the site of the former concentration camp was finally removed in 2022.
Mr. Růžička was given the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Prize in 2017 by US Ambassador Stephen King for his efforts. The activist has been repeatedly suggested for Czech state honors, including in 2024, when he was proposed by the Central Bohemian Regional Coordinator for Minorities, Cyril Koky.
Koky proposed Mr. Růžička along with the Romani musician Antonín Gondolán, who was not mentioned in the list from which the lower house made its selection this year. According to information given to news server Romea.cz, however, Koky has repeatedly suggested Gondolán directly to the president.
“Antonín Gondolán is a leading interpreter of Czechoslovak popular music and played with the best performers in his day. He is a musical legend,” Koky told news server Romea.cz.
Motion to award Elena Gorolová state honors did not succeed
While the motion for Mr. Růžička passed, one for another Romani figure, Elena Gorolová, was not supported this year. Gorolová is an internationally-recognized women’s rights activist, specifically advocating for the victims of illegal sterilizations, and has also been proposed for the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, but did not win the necessary number of votes in the lower house.
Other proposals and rejections
The author Milan Kundera was also proposed for the highest state honors once more in memoriam. Other names proposed were the former ministers Jiří Dienstbier, Jaroslav Šedivý, or Luboš Dobrovský; diplomat Vladimír Vochoč, who saved hundreds of people during the Second World War; and famous figures from the field of culture such as the musician Marek Eben, conductor Jakub Hrůša, songwriter Vladimír Merta, photographer Jindřich Štreit, or moderator Daniel Stach.
Lawmakers rejected the suggestions that former Czech Ambassador to the United Kingdom Michael Žantovský, former Culture Minister Daniel Herman, former Constitutional Court Justice Eliška Wagnerová, or entrepreneur Simona Kijonková receive state honors. The nomination of Jaroslav Bašta, submitted at the last minute by legislator Marcel Dlask (“Freedom and Direct Democracy” – SPD) was also rejected.
The Chamber of Deputies approved 135 of the 150 names proposed. The final decision is now up to President Petr Pavel, who can take the lower house’s recommendations into account but is not required to do so.
The figures receiving state honors are traditionally announced on the occasion of 28 October, the state holiday marking the founding of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918.
